, showing High _Badjirs_ or Ventilating Shafts 380
Ardeshir Meheban Irani and the Leading Members of the
Anguman-i-Nasseri (Parsee National Assembly), Yezd 394
Parsee Priests of Yezd Officiating during Ceremony in
their Fire Temple 400
Interior of Old Caravanserai with Central Water Tank 410
Typical Caravanserai and Mud Fort in the Desert between
Yezd and Kerman 414
A Trade Caravanserai, Kerman 414
H. E. Ala-el-Mulk, Governor of Kerman, in his Palace 432
Tiled Walls and Picturesque Windows in the Madrassah, Kerman 438
Sirkar Agha's Son, the Head of the Sheikhi Sect, Kerman 438
The Interior of a Hammam or Bath--First Room 442
The Hot Room in a Persian Bath 444
The Kala-i-Dukhtar or Virgin Fort 444
Graveyard and Kala-i-Dukhtar or Virgin Fort, Kerman 446
Ruined Houses of Farmitan 450
Plan of House at Farmitan 450
A Steep Rock Climb, Kerman 454
A View of the Kerman Plain from the "Ya Ali" Inscription 458
Wives Returning from the Pilgrimage for Sterile Women 458
Map at the End of Volume.

ACROSS COVETED LANDS

CHAPTER I

The start--The terrors of the Russian Custom-house--An amusing
incident at the Russian frontier--Politeness of Russian
officials--Warsaw: its sights; its lovely women--The talented
Pole--People who know how to travel by train--A ludicrous scene.

"First single to Baku," I requested when my turn came at the window of
the ticket office at Victoria Station.

"Baku?--where is that?" queried the ticket man.

"In Southern Russia."

"Oh, I see! Well, we cannot book further than Warsaw for Russia."

"Warsaw will do. . . . . How much? . . . Thank you."

My baggage having next been duly registered direct for the capital of
Poland, off I set to Queenborough, crossed over by the night boat to
Flushing, and continued the following morning by express to Berlin.

Once in the Russian train from the German capital one hears a great deal
of the terrors